Bala karthiga M

I have this huge pile of work on my desk and I cannot afford to do a detailed blog post, but at the same time, there is this huge loud idea, that’s just screaming on the inside of my head.

So, I decided I’d let it out, and once it’s into this page, I can attend to the two new novels I’ve started, start editing my old novel, and get to that half-finished short story that’s been sitting on my computer for far too long now.

Last week, I was surfing some books and I found that they were classified into two major categories. Books for Children and Books for Adults. I also realized that the film industry works the same way.

Books and Movies for adults, naturally deal with adult stuff.

But the question is how adult are they really?

With books, for example, let’s compare Harry Potter (A popular book that’s in the children’s category) and Twilight (that’s in the young adult category).

Harry Potter deals with an orphan, who lost his parents in a war, and as a result is raised in quite an abusive environment. He gets to escape it, and grows up in the world where he belongs, battling death, depression and a second major war. He takes great efforts to vanquish evil, that’s outside and also on his inside.

The strong message beyond this timeless classic is this: That friendship and bravery can help anyone defeat evil.

We’ve all heard the ‘Good Vs Evil’ story a million times, but the entire series takes it to another level.

You have various social issues being addressed. Like, questioning authority, the definition of home, strength of a family, an important lesson about leadership that says no leader has the right to take advantage of the power that’s given, the problem of living under a weak and untrustworthy government, how the press over exaggerates things and above everything, the power of love. A mother’s love, a friend’s love, a professor’s love, a family’s love.

This is the story of an incredible hero, who overcame all possible obstacles to protect his freinds, family and society.

AND THE EFFIN NERVE THEY HAVE TO PUT THIS INCREDIBLE MASTERPIECE UNDER THE CHILDREN’S CATEGORY!!

I mean, excuse me, but a kid gets to buy a book that, has incredible lines like, ‘Happiness can be found in the darkest of time, if only one remembers to turn on the light.’ and almost every sinlge line of the entire series is quotable and I (as a young adult )get a book that has a 108 year old vampire who says ‘I like watching you sleep.’

Seriously?

A Kindergartner gets a book that’s not only so deep with values of courage, intelligence, loyalty and ambition but also tells us the ways to fight off depression, and save the world (and ourselves) from evil, and an adult gets book that has a plot line that can be summarized as ‘American Teenager with low self esteem has a tough time choosing between an old senior citizen who sucks blood and  hot underage werewolf (who is later revealed to be the SO of the above said Teen’s daughter with the senior citizen).’

Wow. Just wow.

The logic of it all beats me!

Isn’t it supposed to be the other way round?

Aren’t children supposed to read fairy tales and aren’t adults supposed to deal with serious issues like surviving  a falling government and fighting depression?

This one issue upsets me so much that I get stress and anxiety just thinking about it.

If I kill a character that I love while writing my novel today, it’s your fault!! (See? Stress!!)

There seems to be a major confusion here.

Why are we classifying books and movies based on the amount of ‘intimate’ scenes?

Isn’t it the story line that is supposed to matter?

There has clearly been some confusion between the words ‘erotica’ and ‘adult’.

For god’s sake do not classify an incredible story that addresses serious issues in the children’s sections JUST because it doesn’t have any hot scenes!! Please, for Merlin’s sake, don’t!

‘Adult’ means simply means the stuff adults deal with.

If I’m 21, and I can relate to Simba’s fear of facing the past, Rapunzel’s quest to finding her dream, Willy Wonka’s quirky weirdness, Matilda’s maturity and love for books, or Elsa’s ‘Conceal it don’t feel it’ attitude, and if you are going to pull me away from all that goodness and tell me that I should stick to what was made for my age, then yes, I will try and listen at first.

But if what you claim to be made for my age is a story about a creepy vampire stalker or a RomCom that revolves around nothing but finding a significant other or ‘true love’, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG WITH THIS WORLD!!!!

However, judging from the fact that both Twilight and Harry Potter became popular with it’s targeted audience, maybe things are happening the other way round?

Maybe children are starting to care about mature and deep stuff and adults just can’t get past the ‘I like him, will he like me back’ phase?

Whoa. That thought just scares the hell out of me.

What are we turning into? Help me clear this mess up. Please.

Share this post, Like it, start a discussion in the comments section, or do whatever we can to try and fix this.

Love,

Bala.

To follow the author on Facebook. Click Here. 

To Follow the author on Twitter, Click Here.